Splorin' with Friends
by blameitallonYKW
Summary: It's the first day Karrie and Rags are together, and they decide to go for a wander around town while waiting for a festival later that night. Who knows what's in store for them when the party begins...


"Karrie...wakie wakie..." Rags loomed over his new friend, whispering quietly. Karrie rubbed her eyes.

"Mmmnnnn..." she mumbled. Slowly, she sat up. She looked barely awake. "I'm up...I'm...uhh..." she flopped back down on the bed and went back to sleep. She was completely drained of energy, and it seemed she wasn't going to wake up for a long time. Rags nudged her slightly.

"Karrie...c'mon...me starvin'..." growing impatient, he hit Karrie's leg repeatedly with his eyestalks. But they were surprisingly soft, so it felt like being hit with two small, kinda squishy pillows. Thusly, Karrie didn't budge. Rags tried pulling her hair, but she only pushed him away. He tried down on her face, too, but his fabric was breathable, so Karrie wasn't disturbed at all. She only had to push him away and off of the bed. Rags pouted. "Hmph...this is NOT how you treat friend..." his frustration quickly turned to anger. "Rags will NOT be treated this way...Rags will NOT..." Karrie suddenly got up and plucked Rags off of the floor.

"Alright, now I'm awake! You ready?" Rags didn't say anything. He just continued pouting silently. "Aw, c'mon. Don't be like that." Rags turned and stuck out his tongue bitterly at Karrie. She sighed. "Stop being a baby." She got out of bed and changed into her clothes, while Rags just sat there, hungry and bitter. Mother called out from downstairs.

"Karrie! You awake? We gotta get going soon!" Karrie had just finished putting on her hat and was taking her blanket from the closet.

"Coming!" She turned to Rags, still on the bed. "It's almost breakfast time!" Rags perked up a bit. "I know you're hungry, Rags." He glanced over to Karrie for a moment, then looked back. "Look, I'm sorry for not waking up right away. So just come on, Rags!" Rags turned around fully.

"Is you really sorry?" He squinted at Karrie suspiciously. She got up and pat his top.

"Yes, of course! Now how 'bout we go down and eat?" Rags looked up at Karrie, still a little peeved she ignored him, but agreed to go down with her nonetheless.

"Ah, Karrie! Good morning!" Mother was plating Karrie's breakfast as she spoke. Her dad, not working since it was Saturday, was reading the paper when she spotted Karrie.

"G'mornin, sunshine!" Karrie walked over to her dad, who kissed her good morning. Just as Karrie placed her blanket down, her mother placed Karrie's breakfast on the table. It was four, soft, fluffy pancakes.

"Here you go!" her mother spoke gleefully. Karrie grabbed two out of the four pancakes off of the plate and sat down on another chair farther from it. Rags's tummy rumbled just looking at them. Karrie beckoned him to come closer.

"You can have the other two," she whispered. "Just be careful, and make sure she isn't facing you." Rags nodded, and, while Mother was cleaning the pans, snuck the pancakes away and gulped them down whole. Karrie had only taken a few bites out of hers, and stared at Rags, surprised.

"Whut? Rags was hungry." Stuffed, he burped loudly. Karrie glared at him in disapproval. If he had hands, they'd be covering his mouth in embarrassment. "Guhuhuh...oopsie..." he smiled sheepishly and flushed deeply. Once mother was done with the dishes, she walked up to Karrie's seat.

"Karrie," she asked. "Do you know where we're going today?" Karrie swallowed the rest of her second pancake.

"No," she tilted her head. "Where are we goin' Mommy?" Her mother seemed to get really excited.

"Well, we're going to Mt. Wildwood..." she threw her arms up in the air "for a FESTIVAL!" Karrie gasped.

"A FESTIVAL?!" She yelled, completely pumpedShe grabbed the still slightly flustered Rags off of the table and shook him excitedly. "We're going to a FESTIVAL Rags! A FESTIVAL!" Rags snapped out of his embarrassment.

"Festival...?" He asked, confused. Karrie stood there in shock.

"You've...never been to a festival?" Rags shook himself no. "Oh my goodness, you are missing OUT! It's got fun games, dancing, music," she poked Rags's tummy. "and plenty of food, too!" Rags's eyes lit up.

"Guoooooh~ It sounds wonderful!" Karrie grinned.

"It is, but..." her smile faded a bit. "it doesn't start 'til nighttime." Rags looked a little disappointed, too. Not wanting Rags to stay down for long, Karrie perked back up."But that gives us time to explore!" It worked. Rags giggled in excitement.

"Weee! 'Splorin! We get to 'splore together for the first time!" Karrie grabbed her blanket and turned to her mother.

"Mommy, can I take a walk?" Her mother nodded.

"Of course! Just be back before the festival so I can get your kimono on!"

"Okaaay!" With her blanket under her arm, she ran out the door with Rags following close behind.

"So Rags," Karrie glanced over at Rags, who was spinning excitedly and bouncing around like an out of control rubber ball. "Where d'ya wanna go?" Rags stopped bouncing for a moment and looked around. His eyes landed on a bright red vending machine. Drawn in by the colors, he instantly teleported to its location. "Whoa! Hey, wait up!" She ran as fast as she could toward the curious Wazzat, who was tinkering with the little buttons on the side.

"Beep, beep beep, boop, beep..." he said every time he pushed a button. He heard footsteps, and spun around to see Karrie behind him, breathing heavily. "Oh! There you is! Rags was just playin' with this funny lookin' can and..." he noticed Karrie's sheer breathlessness and grew concerned. "Uh...you okay?" Karrie could barely speak.

"Yes...I'm...I'm good..." once she finally caught her breath, she took a look at the machine behind him. "Oh! A vending machine! Do you want a drink?" Rags tilted himself a little.

"Drinks? This thing got drinks in it?" He looked into the slot below the buttons. "Me no see drinks." He mumbled. Karrie inserted a few coins she took out of her hat into the machine, pushed a few buttons, and waited. Soon, there was a loud "THUNK" and "OW" coming from the slot. Rags pulled out his eyestalks, and one was bruised. He flushed bright red with anger. "What wuzzat for?!"

"Ah! S-sorry! I didn't see you!" She quickly took out the soda and held it out to the sizzling hat. "Here! Take this as an apology!" Curiosity overriding anger, he chomped down on the can and started drinking. The redness completely left his face as he grew to like the new, sugary drink. Once done, he spat out the can into the trash and sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Rags forgive you now~" he glanced over to the machine and back to Karrie. "...Could Rags have more?"

"Sure," she let go of Rags and pulled out some more change from her hat. "I've got plenty of change for thirsts like these!" Though they were my own... she thought.

"Yay! More good stuff!" As Rags requested more and more drinks, the change Karrie had on her was quickly eaten through. It took 10 more cans before Rags had had enough. He giggled, tickled by all the fizz in his tummy. "Ooohoohoo~ t-*hic*-kly~" the fizz was also giving him a bad case of the hiccups.

"Alright, so where next then?" Karrie's tone was more annoyed than usual, since the constant hiccuping was irking her to no end.

"Well, may-*hic*-be we c-*hic*-ould see what t-*hup*-hat tria-*hup*-ngle thing i-*hic*-is." Rags stared over towards a location in the distance. Karrie stayed silent and confused. What in the world did he just say? Karrie snuck away and hid behind a vending machine while he was staring at the place, still hiccuping away. It took a while for him to notice and, like Karrie expected, he approached the vending machine.

"RAH!" She jumped out from behind the machine and scared Rags so much he jumped and ran straight into a wall in a panic, knocking him out for a second. "You alright?" Karrie asked. Rags got up and scowled at Karrie.

"Why did you do that?!" He was fuming once again.

"To get you to stop hiccuping. And it worked." Rags then noticed he was talking normally again.

"Ahhh! Phew, thank you!" His scowl returned. "But don't scare Rags like that EVER again. Okay?" Karrie put her hands up defensively

"Alright, alright, lets just go to the..." she still had no idea what Rags had said.

"To the big triangle!" and just as he said that, he dashed off again.

Rags ended up in the center of Triangle Park, and scanned the tiny playground. "Ooh. This place looks nice." Karrie eventually caught up and immediately set her eyes on the swings.

"Rags, over there! I wanna try something!" She quickly dashed over to the swingset with Rags following close behind. She placed Rags on a swing and pushed him gently.

"...Hmmm? Whatcha doin'?" Rags stared at the strange contraption he was on. Karrie pushed a little harder.

"You might wanna hold on..." Karrie warned. Rags bit the edge of the rubber seat below him. "Okay, you ready?" Rags nodded. Suddenly, Karrie pushed hard, sending the swing flying high. She stepped back quickly, and watched as Rags went back and forth repeatedly. She could hear Rags's screams of thrill as he swung. He continued swinging for a few minutes.

"Hey!" Rags yelled, still muffled. "Watch this!" He suddenly let go, and was sent flying. "Weeeeeeeeee..." his yells quickly faded away as he flew through the sky. Karrie immediately began to panic.

"Oh my goodness! RAGS WAIT UP!" She ran after him, frantically worrying if he was going to get hurt. He sailed over the park, and disappeared into Breezy Hills. Upon entering, she quickly approached the nearest person she could find. "Sir? Sir? Have you seen a green hat fly by here?" The man thought for a second.

"Hmmm...I think I saw one land in Gourd Pond a while ago." Karrie quickly thanked the man and dashed for Gourd Pond. Sure enough, Rags was washed up on the opposite end of the pond. Karrie rushed over as fast as she could.

"Rags! Rags, oh my goodness!" He was sopping wet, cold, and shivering. Despite his state, Karrie hugged him tightly. "Don't EVER do that again!"

"S-s-so...c-cold..." he muttered. Karrie wrapped him in her blanket, and continued holding him close.

"Rags...why..." Karrie snuggled the poor Wazzat as closely as she could in her arms.

"Rags thought...it would be fun..." he sniffled, glad to be so comfy. "Rags sorry..."

"It's alright," she comforts him and strokes him gently. "As long as you're okay, Rags. As long as you're okay..."

"Hmmm..." Rags looked upwards at the orange and pink sky. "Is it festival time yet?" He was still wrapped in the blanket, since he was still a little chilly. Karrie shook her head.

"Nope, we've still got a little bit of time left for one more place before we go." She tilted her head. "Why? Hungry?" Rags let his stomach do the talking, and stayed silent as it rumbled quietly. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." She held Rags close to keep him warm. He yawned, tired from all of the swinging and yelling. "Don't get tired yet! Remember: FESTIVAL!" Rags instantly perked up. He then looked up at Karrie.

"You can choose where we go this time." Karrie was surprised.

"You sure?" she asked. "I mean..."

"No, Rags insist!" He nuzzled in close and smiled widely. Karrie thought for a moment.

"How about..." she snapped her fingers in realization. "Oh I know!" She ran southwest from Gourd Pond and entered a city-like area with a large glass tower in the middle. "Excellent Tower!" The sunset reflected off of the large building beautifully, and it looked like it was touching the clouds. Rags was amazed.

"Isso...pretty..."

"Yeah, it is really pretty." She looked down at the still blanketed up Rags. "You ready to go in?" Rags wiggled in excitement, freeing himself from the blanket, and flew off. "RAGS! Didn't you just-ugh...nevermind..." she retied the blanket and ran towards the tower's entrance. Rags was already inside, admiring the beautiful interior.

"Oooh! So fancy!" He was zipping around, touching everything, and just admiring the beautiful building. Karrie entered too, and called to Rags.

"Hey! Get over here! The best part is over here!" She was standing by the large glass elevator. Still excited, he dashed over to Karrie's side, and the two went up the elevator together.

"Hmm, hmm~ La la la~" as the elevator rose, Rags was humming to himself to pass the time. Eventually, they reached the top, and it looked even more beautiful than the first floor. The walls were all transparent, and some pieces of the floor were see through, showing the ground below that looked so far away. Rags immediately focused on the beautiful sunset that was so clear through the windows. "Aaaaah! Lookit! Lookit!" Rags bounced excitedly and glued his face to the window. Karrie squashed her face against the window too, staring intently at the sunset, until she spotted the binoculars. She beckoned Rags over to take a peek. They both put in one eye per eyehole and got a beautiful close up of Springdale from above. They stared at it for what felt like only a few minutes, but they were hogging those goggles for quite a long time. It was only when the sky started to darken when to two agreed to leave. It was party time.

"Alright, let me just fix this and..." Karrie's mother was fiddling with Karrie's kimono, making sure it was absolutely perfect. "Done! What do you think?" The kimono was pink, with a basic floral pattern all over it.

"It looks nice!" She smiled as she looked down at herself. Rags was on the table, resting. So he could match Karrie, he swapped out his red bow for a pink one.

"We'll see you outside, Karrie!" Mother said as she walked out the door to meet up with Dad.

"You look very pretty!" He cried from the table. She giggled shyly.

"Thank you..." she grabbed Rags and her other belongings from the table and ran out the door.

"There you are, Sunshine!" Her father was wearing a navy blue kimono when he greeted Karrie outside. "You ready?"

"Ya!" She was bouncing excitedly and fidgeting a whole bunch.

"Eehee!" Rags giggled as he was snuggled up next to the blanket in Karrie's arms.

"Then let's get a move on!" Her father exclaimed. Following them all the way up Uptown, the closer they got to the place, the more noise that could be heard. When they made it, it was a real bonanza. People were everywhere. They were dancing, eating, talking, playing games, it looked so fun! Karrie let go of Rags once the parents were off doing their own thing.

"You go eat up. I'll be at the fishing game if you need me." Rags excitedly flew off toward one of the concession stands, and Karrie ran toward the fishing game. Taking one of the plastic poles, she started to play when some drum beats began to play. They were upbeat, quick, and in perfect rhythm to the beat of the music. After she finished the game, she decided to see where the drumming was coming from. Surprisingly, she couldn't see anyone beating any drums anywhere. There was only one sole taiko drum that she could see. She was going to ignore it, when suddenly her yo-kai watch went off, detecting someone near the shrine. Shining the light coming from the middle of the watch, she scanned the area and found an itty bitty little drum with four legs and a kitty cat face.

"Ah! You pou-uh, found me!" The tiny little drum was banging on the spare taiko drum that she initially found.

"Who are you, lil guy?" Karrie squatted down a bit to face the little drum.

"I am..." he created a his own little drumroll on the floor of the shrine. "BA BADA BAAA! Don-chan!"

"Well then Don-chan, I noticed you were making some pretty nice beats on that drum there!" Karrie gave the him an impressed look. "If I wasn't playing that game over there, I'd definitely be dancing to your beat!" Don-chan blushed slightly.

"Aww, stop it with the flattery...we Don-chan are naturally gifted with our rhythmic talent..."

He raised his drumsticks, ready to drum. "You wanna hear more?" Karrie clapped excitedly.

"Yes, of course!" Don-chan was about to start playing when Rags suddenly appeared from the crowd.

"Karrie! Rags stuffed and ready to-oh?" Rags stared at the unknown yo-kai who was talking to Karrie only a few seconds prior. "...Who is you?" He checked out the little drum yo-kai curiously.

"Rags, this is Don-chan." Don-chan looked up and noticed how high up Rags was.

"Hold on, I like beating new friends face to face." He grabbed a stool from one of the stands and stood up on it, making eye contact with Rags. Don-chan waved. "Hello!" Rags giggled.

"Heehee! You silly!" Rags looked over to Karrie and yawned. "Hmmmm...can we go home? Rags ate his fill, and is real sleepy..."

"Yeah...it is getting late..." Don-chan, realizing what was happening, frantically tried to keep the two tired friends awake.

"But you were just getting started! You can't just LEAVE!" Don-chan shook Karrie's kimono.

"Please don't fall asleep! I don't want the party to end! If you leave, then life'll be so BORING!"

Karrie called out for her mom so they could go, and Don-chan jumped up and tried to covered her mouth. "Please just stay! Pleeeeease?" Karrie could only speak in a mumble.

"But...if we don't sleep, then we won't be able to party tomorrow..." Don-chan thought about it.

"You're right, but..." Don-chan sighs. "if you leave, then no one'll truly admire my beats, or have fun with me, or keep me company. No one else here can even-hey!" Karrie picked up the drum and her blanket and walked to Mother with them.

"I'm ready to leave..." she mumbled.

"Oh, you must be really tired, aren't you? Oh, of course we can go home! Daddy already left!" Karrie lazily followed Mother home, with a confused Don-chan in her arms.

"Huh? Where are we going?" Don-chan flailed helplessly in Karrie's arms. Rags mumbled back.

"We goin' hoooome!"

"Why'd you take me to your room?" Don-chan asked as he laid on Karrie's bed.

"Simple..." Karrie replied. "So you wouldn't be lonely!"

"If you stay here...then you can party with us whenever! Innit great?!" Rags creeped into the closet with Karrie's blanket and hat. Don-chan's eyes seemed to sparkle with delight.

"That sounds wonderful! You deserve this!" Don-chan handed a medal to Karrie, who placed it next to Rags's.

"Can I call you Tyko?" Karrie asked. Don-chan winked.

"Of course! Call me whatever!" Tyko snuggled up next to Karrie on the bed comfortably. "Karrie?"

"Hmmm?" Karrie shut off the lights.

"Are we gonna party our hearts out tomorrow?" He closed his eyes so he could fall asleep.

"Of course..." she muttered as she drifted off to sleep."We will party our hearts out, Tyko. I'm sure of it."but


End file.
